Tote box and rack therefor



Nov. 13, 1951 Filed Aug. 3, 1946 R. K. DAVIDSON ET AL TOTE BOX AND RACKTHEREFOR 2 SHEETS-SHEET l F/GI . IN VEN TORS HUBER 7' K. DA V/DSO/V W/LLIAM BA 001V BY A TTX 1951 R. K. DAVIDSON ETAL 7 2,574,692

TOTE BOX AND RACK THEREFOR Filed Aug. 3, 1946 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 A -56 I Ix 7 INVENTORS R0 RT K. DAVIDSON F/@ 5 1 W/iZ/AM aaao/v Patented Nov. 13,1951 TOTE BOX AND RACK THEREFOR Robert K. Davidson and William Bacon,North Woodbury, Conn.

Application August 3, 1946, Serial No. 688,238

3 Claims.

This invention relates to that class of articles known as tote .boxesand to a rack for supporting the same. These so-called tote boxes are infact metal containers, and they are used in and around factories and thelike for storing small articles and for transporting the same from onepart of the factory to another. It is the practice to provide one ormore of these tote boxes beside each machine which is turning out smallparts, and as the parts are finished by the machine, the worker placesthem in the boxes. It has been the usual practice in the past to usemost anything that could be found at hand for this purpose and thecontainers so used are quite usually of varying sizes and shapes so thatat the end of the day when the containers are stacked at random one uponanother for storage, parts which have been placed in any given containerare often damaged by the weight of other containers piled above andfrequently within said given container.

It is the object of this invention to provide tote boxes of uniform sizeand so shaped that they may be nested one upon another without damagingthe contents of any of the boxes.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a group of toteboxes so interrelated in size and shape that a plurality of small boxessuch manner that a plurality of sizes of tote boxes may beinterchangeably supported therein.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a rack whichis open at the front and closed on the sides and rear'and which is ofsuch depth as to accommodate a plurality of tote boxes upon a singlepair of horizontal runners with one box being supported directly infront of another, the length of each box being'an aliquot part of thedepth of the rack so that when the boxes are placed in the rack and.moved toward the back thereof as far as possible, the front of the firstbox is flush with the open front of the rack.

These and further objects will appear as the description of theinvention proceeds. Referring now to the drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a front elevational view of a plurality of tote boxessupported within a rack.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of a small tote box nested upon alarger tote box, the larger box being shown only in dotted lines and thesmaller box being shown partly in section.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the tote box shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of the tote box of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of a plurality of small tote boxesshown nested upon a single large tote box.

. Describing first the rack of this invention and referring to Fig. l ofthe drawing, it will be seen that each section of the rack consists oftwo parallel sheet metal side members In and i2. These members In and I2are continuous along the entire depth of the rack and are so shaped asto provide equally vertically spaced supporting runners M. The runners Mare formed by bending the sheet metal of the members Hi and I2 in suchmanner as to form horizontal supports it and sloping braces IS. The backof the rack consists of a flat sheet metal member 29 which interconnectsthe parallel sides H1 and I2.

Closely adjacent the member I2 is another member 22 similar in allrespects to the member ll] previously described. A plurality of braces24 consisting of flat bar members are inserted between the sides l2 and22 so as to give added rigidity to the rack. The rack in its entiretyconsists of a series of equally spaced, vertically extending, runnerproviding sheet metal members such as l0, l2, and 22. Likewise, whileonly a portion of the rack is shown in Fig. 1, it is to be understoodthat the rack can be made as high as desired and that actually a fairlylarge number of horizontal runners are provided.

The tote boxes themselves are formed of three sheet metal members. Onemember 26 is bent as shown in Fig. 2 to provide the two sides 28 and 30and the bottom 32 of the box. The two sides 28 and 30 are slopedinwardly towards the top of the box for a purpose which will presentlybe described. The two ends of the box are formed of sheet metal membersStand 35. The end 34 is bent around the sides 28 and 3!! as shown inFig. 4 at 38 and spot-welded to the sides. The end 34 is also bent underat the bottom of the box as shown at 4%} and is likewise spot-weldedthereto. At the top of the box, the end 34 is bent outwardly to providean offset portion 42 and the off-set portion 42 is then turned inwardlyagainst itself at the top as shown at 44 for added strength. Since theend 36 is identical to the end 34 except for being a mirror image, it isnot believed that a detailed description thereof is necessary.

If desired, a pivotally mounted bail type handle such as shown at 46 maybe provided on one of the ends 34 or 36. Likewise, a label-supportingmeans such as shown at 48 may be provided on one of the ends 34 or 36,and it has been found convenient to make this label-supporting meansofsuch a size that it fits within the bend formed by the handle 46.

The sheet metal member 26 issoshaped at the top of the box as to providea horizontal platform 50 which will serve as a means to support thebottom of another tote box in nesting relation. The inward slope of thesides 28 and" 30 enables the outer edges of the platforms 50 to bedirectly above the outer" edges of the bottom of the box so that thebottom of one box will fit snugly upon the platforms provided thereforupon another box, in nested fashion. Likewise, the member 26 is providedat both of its upper edges with a horizontally extending lip 52 whichwill serve as a means to pendantly support the tote box between therunners [4 of the rack as shown in Fig. 1.

As shown in Fig. 2, the shallow tote box 54 is nested upon a deeper totebox 56. The tote box 56 shown in dotted lines is twice as deep as totebox 54, but it will be understood that other boxes may be provided whichare three times or four times or any even multiple of the depth of box54.

As seen in Fig. 5, the box 56 is not only twice as 1;

deep as the box 54, but is also twice as long, considering the totallength as being the distance between the portions 42, so that two of theboxes 54 may be nested upon the box 56. It will readily be appreciatedfrom an observation of Fig. 5 that if a box twice as long as the box 56were provided, thenfour boxes of the size of the box 54 couldbe nestedupon the single larger box. It will also readily be appreciated that ifa box twice as long as-the box 56 were provided, then two boxes the sizeof the box 56 could be nested upon the single larger box. In carryingout the spirit of this invention, it is only necessary that the bottomsand tops of all the boxesbe the same width and that in length thesmaller boxes be an aliquot part, or even multiple thereof, of thelength of the larger boxes. Thus, one box may be only one-third as longas the larger box, but the smaller box together with a box two-thirds ofthe length of the larger box may be nested upon the larger box andcompletely cover the larger box. In this manner, any number ofcombinations may be derived wherein smaller boxes are nested upon largerboxes, the only limitations being that all of the boxes be the samewidth and that the larger boxes be in length an even multiple of thelength and depth of the smaller boxes. It will be observed also fromFig. 5 that the portion 42 projects beyond the end 36' for a distancesufficient to provide a space to accommodate and protect the handle 48from interfering with the box placed next adjacent thereto.

Referring now again to Fig. 1, it will be ob served that boxes of twodifferent depths are shown stored within the rack. It is to beespecially noted that the distance betweenthe lip 52 of the box 54 andthe bottom of the box is slightly less than the vertical spacing of therunners 14. Likewise, the distance between the lip 52 of the box 56 andthe bottom of that box is slightly less than twice the vertical spacingof the runners l4. By this arrangement, it is possible for one tote boxto be removed from the rack without disturbing the boxes directly aboveor below the box which it is desired to remove. Since the boxes arelabeled, as previously described, one need only observe the labels andthen remove the desired box. The rack is, of course, made deep enough toaccommodate the longest tote box which it is found desirable to employ.Thus, the tote boxes which have previously been stacked in nestingrelation may be lifted one by one and placed within the rack.

It is here pointed out that the depth of the rack, that is, the distancefrom front to rear, is such that it will accommodate the longest box ofthe set. Therefore, since as previously explained, the length of thesmaller boxes is such that a number of them-will completely cover the-larger box, a plurality of smaller boxes maybe supported from a singlepair of runners and the front of the first box will be flush with theopen front of the rack to present a pleasing appearance and to make forconvenient use.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in its preferredembodiment and has included certain details, it should be understoodthat the invention is not to be limited to the p're cise details hereinillustrated and described since the same may be carried out in otherways, falling wtihin the scope of the invention as claimed.

What we claim is:

l. A tote box comprising in combination, a rectangular bottom, two endsextending upward from two opposite edges thereof substantially equaldistances, two sides extending upward from the other two opposite edgesof said bottom; said sides being substantially the same height as saidends and sloping inward toward each other at their upper edges, a narrowsubstantially horizontal flange extending outward from the upper edge ofeach side, a guide flange extending upward from the outer edge of eachnarrow flange, the distance between the inner surfaces of said guideflanges being substantially equal to the width of the bottom of saidbox, whereby another tote box of similar width may be stacked upon thenarrow flanges of said box and be aligned snugly therewith vertically,and a horizontal supporting flange extending outward from each guideflange so as in vertical projection to' extend past the side edges ofthe bottom of the box and by which said box may be pendantly andslidably supported at its opposite sides from suitable rack meansengageable with said supporting flanges.

2. A rack having opposed vertical Walls each provided with a pluralityof horizontal guide rails disposed transversely opposite to each otherand evenly spaced apart vertically, said rails on one wall extendingtoward the other wall, in combination with a plurality of tote boxeseach having similar transverse dimensions and compreing a rectangularbottom, two ends extending up warcl from two opposite edges thereofsubstantially equal distances amounting substantiallyto an even multipleof the distance said guidelr'a ils are spaced apart vertically, twosides extending upward from the other two opposite edges of said bottom,said sides being substantially the same height as said ends'and slopinginward toward each other at their upper edges, anarrow substantiallyhorizontal flange extending outward from the upper edge of eachside, aguide flange extending upward from the outer edge 01' each narrowflange, the distance between the inner surfaces of said guide flangesbeing substantially equal to the width of the bottom of the box and lessthan the distance between the free edges of said guide rails of saidrack, and a horizontalrails disposed transversely opposite to each otherand evenly spaced apart vertically, said walls being formed from planarmaterial from which portions are bent horizontally out of said plane toform a guide rail and then downwardly at an angle toward said plane toform a brace for said guide rail, and means to rigidly brace said walls,said rails on one wall extending toward the other wall, in combinationwith a plurality of tote boxes each having similar transverse dimensionsand comprising a rectangular bottom, two ends extending upward from twoopposite edges thereof substantially equal distances amountingsubstantially to an even multiple of the distance said guide rails arespaced apart vertically, two sides extending upward from the other twoopposite edges of said bottom, said sides being substantially the sameheight as said ends and sloping inward toward each other at their upperedges, a narrow substantially horizontal flange extendins outward from te upper edg c i a guide flange extending upward from the outer edge ofeach narrow flange, the distance between the inner surfaces of saidguide flanges being substantially equal to the width of the bottom ofthe box and less than the distance between the free edges of said guiderails of said rack, and a horizontal supporting flange extending alimited amount outward from each guide flange the distance between theouter edges of said supporting flanges being only slightly less than thedistance between said vertical side walls of said rack, whereby saidboxes may be selectively either pendantly supported from said guiderails of said-rack by said supporting flanges slidably engaging the sameor stacked vertically in snug alignment upon the narrow flanges of eachother independently of said rack.

ROBERT K. DAVIDSON.

WILLIAM BACON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 751,466 Colling Feb. 9, 1904831,746 Rundell Sept. 25, 1906 954,743 Koller Apr. 12, 1910 1,034,441Grochau Aug. 6, 1912 1,244,617 Lane Oct. 30, 1917 1,511,569 Lehman Oct.14, 1924 1,542,115 Weis June 16, 1925 1,682,028 Young Aug. 28, 19281,840,141 Vanderhoof Jan. 5, 1932 1,872,733 Greenwald 1 Aug. 23, 19322,306,802 Harbison D c. 29, 1 42

